Goldfields solar power hub plan revived
The future of the Goldfields as a solar power hub has been reinvigorated, with a number of companies outlining investment plans with the potential to bring hundreds of millions of dollars and more than 1000 jobs to the region.
The Kalgoorlie Miner can reveal at least two companies are exploring the potential of a solar thermal power plant at the Mungari Industrial Estate, 23km west of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
Exergy Power this week outlined its proposal for a $600m, 115MW capacity solar thermal plant covering 700ha.
Chief executive Brian Reddy said the Prospector Solar Thermal Generation Facility would employ 1500 people during a three-year construction period and up to 70 people once operational.
The proposal has the support of the Goldfields Esperance Development Commission, Regional Development Australia Goldfields Esperance, the WA Government’s Department of Finance and the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mr Reddy said Exergy had also received notices of intent to purchase power from four mining companies in the Goldfields.
A solar energy plant at Mungari has been on the cards for several years, with a $200m proposal by Investec Bank coming the closest to fruition.
However, the project stalled in 2013 when the investment bank closed a number of its Australian divisions.
Mr Reddy said the situation was now right for a project at Mungari.
“For previous projects, the timing wasn’t quite right,” he said.
“The offtake wasn’t there, the market wasn’t ready to have another renewable provider in the region.
“But the grid constraints are the principal diving factor now, which is really driving this project.”
SolarReserve, another company to express interest in Mungari, has its own solar thermal power plant due to come online in the US in the next few months.
The company’s 110MW Crescent Dunes project is in the final stage of commission with NV Energy, a large utility based in Nevada.
It will be the largest molten salt concentrating power project in the world once commissioned.
The company’s director of development Australia Daniel Thompson said solar generation in the Goldfields had potential.
“Mungari makes a lot of sense — it’s zoned for an industrial use, it’s close to the population centre, but it’s only one of a number of prospective sites in the area,” he said.
“Kalgoorlie is a very prospective area for us, with an excellent solar resource, a number of large industrial mining loads nearby, and it’s at the end of the power network which is at capacity.”
However, Mr Thompson said any project at Mungari would rely on securing customers.
He said the energy supply market had been further complicated by uncertainty regarding the Federal Government’s Renewable Energy Target.
“When you’re developing any project, it’s predicated on finding someone to purchase the electricity,” he said.
“At the moment, there is reluctance for electricity retailers to purchase additional renewable electricity over a long period until there is some certainty on the RET.”
Mr Reddy said Exergy’s Mungari project was undergoing detailed engineering drawings, and the company was seeking equity investment and final regulatory processes.
He said construction could start as early as 2016.
